ISSUE 58: Yosemite National Park, CA 2018

We were thrilled to be heading to Yosemite National Park once again. We had a different route planned through Tuolumne Meadows ending back in the valley for the second time. We could not wait for our journey to begin, but I could not in my wildest imagination dream up the devastation that would incur while on this trip.

My sister had flown in a couple days before, so that she could gear prep with my dad and I, and we so we could travel as a whole unit from start to finish. The morning of July 10th, just a day after Brad had left to go back the to DRC, we rose early. I met my dad and sister at my parents’ house so that I could drop off my little ones and so we could carpool together. We took the 7:35 AM flight to Fresno, and when we arrived we headed to the Thrifty counter to pick up our rented mid-size SUV.

We stopped in the city at the Big 5 to pick up fuel four camp stoves, and grabbed some grub at In n Out. Back on the road we focused in on eating and getting psyched up for our first day. Since we were starting in Tuolumne we knew we would be getting a later start in the day since that location is one of the farthest in the park.

When we arrived at the park gates we got our pass and made the long drive to Tuolomne Meadows. We took the time along the way to call my mom while we had service, but as we came upon one of the lakes surrounded by granite, we inevitably lost service and our call. Slightly unscathed, we eventually reached Tuolumne and my dad jumped out of the car when we pulled up to the ranger station. He was in charge of getting our backpacking permit. Once he hat that handled, we found a place to park and geared up. It took us maybe twenty minutes to change into our appropriate garb and make sure we had everything properly stowed away in our giant packs, thrown away, or hidden in the car. Once we were ready, we set off on foot.

We were almost immediately greeted by a very wide and gleaming river. It brought back memories of when I was just girl and my dad took my sister and I on a short “glamping trip” in Yosemite for only a few days. My memories are fairly limited from that trip, but I remembered this river and the yellow grasses surrounding it.

When we got there, we stopped to take photos, and drop our packs so that we could fill our Hydroflasks and wet our cool towels for the first time on this trek. This was it. We were in it now.

We didn’t hike far that day, and maybe only spend a few hours on foot, but it was a tough first day with a lot of uphill. We ended up finding a nice open spot to set up camp, not far from the trail and close to a water source. We got cleaned up for the night, and made ourselves some dinner before heading to bed.

The next morning we woke early with the goal to make it to Merced Lake by way of Vogelsang Pass. We boiled up water to make our breakfast, cleaned up our campsite, and got everything packed. We set off back uphill, and eventually found ourselves at the Vogelsang High Sierra camp. My sister stopped in the small shop to pick up some more matches which they happily gave her for free, and my dad checked his phone fore service but had none.

We continued on our journey hopping boulders across creeks and taking in the vast expanse of granite rock that surrounded us. As we proceeded our climb, my dad’s phone let out a sharp “ding”. He miraculously in that moment had service. Taking the opportunity, he called my mom. She was on speaker phone when she picked up, and it sounded like she was overwhelmed. All I could pick up from the conversation that was being had a short distance away from me was “Don’t tell Natalie”. Naturally, this set off an alarm for me, and I headed straight to the phone. My dad told my mom that I overheard my name and wanted to talk.

When I asked my mom what was going on, I was not expecting or prepared for her response. As butterflies filled my stomach, my mom began to inform me that my sweet girl, Zanzibar had been attacked by a coyote the day before. She assured me that everything was going to be okay. Zanzibar had to go in for emergency surgery to prevent hemorrhaging and was under surveillance for a few days. She had received several large bite marks around her neck during the attack which did not do any major damage. Thankfully, Zoey was safe and sound, though she had been quite shaken up over the event. (It is believed that thanks to Macy, my sister’s large Aussie-Husky who lives with our parents, Zanzibar is still with us.) At this point, my mom had started to cry, and was choking back tears as best I could. I had never felt so helpless in my life. I was ready to run back to the car, but my mom continued to tell me she had things under control and to finish our trip.

Once we continued our hike, I couldn’t fight it anymore. Tears began welling down my cheeks as I did my best to keep up at the back of our line. I had to take several stops just to try to catch my breath as the mix of climbing and crying limited my oxygen supply. We eventually, stopped to take an early break for lunch at Vogelsang Lake. I pulled myself together as best I could while I chomped down on my tuna on pita and assorted snacks. We had a couple laughs over Zanzibar stories, and I tried to stay positive while my dad and sister did their best to support me and encourage me, but it was one of the worst days of my life.

After eating we made the short climb up to Vogelsang Pass, but I could have cared less about the beautiful view in front of us. I just wanted to be home. The rest of the day, I lagged along in the back, doing my best to hold it together, but on occasion my mind kept wandering to dark places, and I kept wondering about Zanzibar’s condition. I was terrified to lose her while I was away. I had no choice, but to hope for the best and pray. I pray constantly night and day.

The rest of the day seemed to go on forever as we climbed up and down mountains and made our way through fields of brightly colored flowers in an ongoing misty rain. As the rain kept coming down, we found a new spot to stop next to an almost impassible river. We put our packs against the trees, and Erica and my dad whipped out their jet-boilers to cook up some Lipton noodle soup, an excellent way to replenish your body’s salt stores. As they cooked, I took some time to myself and went in search of a crossing point, but nothing seemed achievable. Inevitably, I went back to our rest point, and partook in some of the soup which was a welcome snack. The temperature had dropped and the warm soup was just what I needed to warm a little. We all contributed to cleaning up, and shortly after we were strapped back in to our packs. There was no easy way across, so my dad took one for the team. He took off his shoes, and waded in to create a path and guide us to the other side, and our trek continued down. Down, and down, and down. We eventually reached a long series of small steps made from the stone that were wreaking havoc on my knees, so when we reached flatter land, I pushed that we find a spot to set up camp. First, we wandered back toward Washburn lake in hopes of setting up camp, but I couldn’t do it. I was on the verge of a complete collapse as mosquitos did the worst to ravage my body for food. My will to go on had vanished.

Finally, we found a clearing on some massive slabs of granite that sat in the middle of Merced River where I dropped my pack and just laid down flat and let the emerging sun warm my core while my dad went looking for a better spot. Sure enough he reappeared victorious ready to guide us a little ways up. It took everything I had to stand up, and to sling my pack back on, but my day was almost over. We set up camp for the night. We got cleaned off just 100 or so feet away in small rocky area with ice cold water flowing all around. We made dinner, and then I climbed into my sleeping bag almost immediately. The sun wasn’t even fully down before we were ready to sleep. As I laid there, I couldn’t hold anything back. The stress of our second day finally broke me again. Tears started to fall down the sides of my face as I laid there, and could do nothing to stop them. My sister was sleeping next to me and grabbed my hand and told me it was going to be okay. It was exactly what I needed.

The following morning, we rushed through our routine again. With our packs back on along with ten pounds of bug repellent, we wandered toward Washburn Lake for the hell of it. Hardly able to ignore the plague of mosquitos that were around us, we were taken aback by the view ahead of us. It was stunning. A clean reflection of the granite mountain sparkled back from the waters surface. We took the moment in for only a few minutes and snapped a few quick photos before we turned back.

We continued on towards Merced lake, along the Merced river. We got some beautiful views of emerald green water that ran beside us but I tried to not let it distract me from our goal. Along the way, we found a great spot to stop for lunch on another large slab of granite. There were shallow spots where we could wade into the water, another spot where the mist from the small waterfall would coat us from head to toe, and another spot where I did some small but free rock climbing (and lost my lens cap in the progress).

When we reached Merced Lake there were no good spots to really stop, so we just kept going. We made our way out onto a massive clearing of granite that overlooked some of the lower lands below. Along, the way we found a nice spot to stop along the Merced River once again. We all dropped our packs and took a seat on the warm stone. There was plenty of clear rock face to wander around on and stretch out the tension in our backs and legs. I posted up on the small cliff overlooking the river that turned into a series of small falls.

Before long we had to start moving again, but we didn’t go too much farther. As the granite ground slowly transformed into dust and grasses, we began looking for a good spot to camp. Sure enough, we found a clearing next to the river, that just needed a little tidying. We moved the hindering debris and laid out our tarp.

We each took turns heading down river to clean ourselves up, and putting out our gear for the night. While my dad was away, I opted to wade into the water a little at camp, but he came back sooner than I expected and was daring me to get all the way in. The water was so cold, and I hate even the thought of emerging further, but I couldn’t resist the pressure. I was all in with the exception of my head, but my dad said it wasn’t good enough. So, I dunked myself all the way in, and then scampered out quickly to lay on the warm granite in the sun. ! It was at this camp side that I had my first “Polar Plunge”, While we were not in the arctic, the water was in my opinion “freezing”.

This camp presented all of special experiences for me. Aside from chilly dip, I proceeded to have to worst dehydrated meal of my life. I decided to have grilled chicken and mashed potatoes. My first mistake was looking int he bag before I added the water. I looked at the chicken and pulled it out to show my dad and sister. It looked like a dog treat… You know, like the dehydrated chicken strips you can buy them at the store??

Anyways, I proceeded to not let its vulgar appearance sway me from eating. Once I thought it was ready, I dug in. Sure enough it was as gross at it looked, bland and sad and aged. I decided not to finish my meal and opted for a variety of snacks instead. I tried brushing my hair, which was an utter disaster, while sat around making jokes before decided to build our campfire for the night. With the fire ablaze, we gathered around for our last hooorah of the night, we sipped on our hot beverages, and tried not to let the popping embers singe our clothing.

The following morning I was the first one up while the others continued to sleep. The morning air was cool and crisp, so I made myself a hot cup of tea, and proceeded to sit by the river. When the others began to wiggle around, I decided to start the water for breakfast. We did our best to eat what we could on our fourth morning, but we all felt rather limited. Instead, we took our time packing up our bags and getting ready to hit the trail.

Once we were buckled in with the gear on our backs, we pressed on toward the valley. Things were going pretty well, and we were in high spirits as we made. We crossed through such a wide variety of terrain, from marshlands to mountainsides, to forest floors that had been burnt to a crisp. Somewhere along the way we stopped for lunch at a lovely spot where the river was broken into a groups of cascading falls. It felt great to remove our shoes and wade into the knee deep water and refuel our bodies with the food we needed. During our time of relaxing, we also encountered a few other people, as well. It was nice to socialize, and hear their stories too.

Things took an interesting turn a little while after lunch. We needed to find one last place to camp, but it wasn’t working out We kept looking, and eventually ran into some rangers, who told us there wasn’t really anything ahead.

We ended up getting cell reception one more time, and decided to call my mom. It was not at all the call we wanted or expected. My mom was dealing with the aftermath of Zanzibar’s attack was clearly overwhelmed mentally, emotionally, and physically. She started telling us that despite that Zanzibar was okay, we needed to get home now, and that we should have turned around and gone home on day two despite her telling us to keep going a couple of days ago.

Naturally, I became frustrated and upset and began to lose my nerve since the idea of camping was near impossible anyways. I didn’t know what to do, but just that I wanted to be home with fur-babies. I couldn’t control it, and I don’t know what came over me, but I began to book it the hell out of there. At one point, I looked back and no one was behind me. I stopped until I could see my dad and sister again, and then kept going further. It was so incredibly hot with the sun beating down on me in a scorched forest with was no shade to take cover, so I just kept going still. Eventually, I heard my sister yell my name from a distance as I approached a park camp ground. I stopped and posted up on a railing, while she and my dad caught up. When they reached me, they did their best to talk some sense into me by reminding me that if we left the park we may not have a place to stay that night.

I just wanted to go home, and despite their efforts I didn’t budge. I figured we could find a place to stay if our hotel didn’t have any vacancy. I had to just get off the mountain. It wasn’t long after the campground that we reached the start of Vernal Falls. We passed by without any regard for it. I was in go mode, but as we began to take on the aggressive steps along the falls, I began to have sharp pain in my knees. The pain was so excruciating, that I wanted to cry. I had to take frequent breaks, which allowed my sister to finally pass me. The trail seemed to go on forever, as I suffered through the pain and heartache I was feeling. When we finally reached the paved path, I felt relieved, but forgot how long the walk was to the bus. My interest in snapping more photos was minimal, just getting the hell out.

After a short bus ride, we arrived back in the valley. We had no car, so our only option was to try and find someone to drive us back to Tuolumne Meadows for some cash. We found “Jake the Climber”, but the only thing was that “Jake the Climber” wasn’t off work until 10 PM. We had no choice but to wait around for our ride, so we spend the time in the gift shops, grabbing dinner, and watching a movie on a park bench at the big outdoor theater. As fun as it all was, I couldn’t wait to take a hot shower.

When we all loaded up into Jake’s small and messy SUV, we spent nearly two hours with a complete stranger discussing Yosemite and climbing. It was clear that while we shared the same love for the outdoors, Jake was cut from a very different cloth than we were. As we kept driving, we learned of the nearby forest fire, and could even see it from the road along the way.

Finally with “Jake the Climber” paid and our gear loaded up in our own car, my dad drove us to our hotel where we had reservations for the following night. It was another long drive that was supposed to be close to an hour. Unfortunately, my dad took us to the wrong exit. Not only were we in the wrong spot, but we ended up running into someone working on closing the roads who told us the fires were spreading and causing a lot of hotels to close down temporarily. So with bad news in hand, we turned around, found our proper exit, and pressed on toward Rush Creek Lodge where we had stayed the year before. When we go there, it was after 1 AM. My dad spent a good amount of time inside at reception trying to see if they could squeeze us in. After a while my sister popped in to check on things, and then came back out with more bad news. Not only could they not squeeze us in, we didn’t have a reservation at this hotel, our reservation was at Tenaya Lodge on the complete opposite end of the park, and they were fully booked too.

At this point, we were shit out of luck. Here, I had rejected the idea earlier of just camping at Tuolumne Meadows overnight because I didn’t want to hike in the dark, but now instead, we had to sleep in our car on the private land belonging to the hotel just a short distance away.

It was cramped to say the least. My sister took the back seat, and I took the driver spot while my dad tried his best to sleep in the passenger seat. My dad could not get comfortable to save his life. He kept wiggling around while letting out loud sighs. He finally, decided to ditch us and make his own little camp spot right outside the car. He grabbed his sleeping pad and sleeping bag and went off to dreamland. Finally, I could “sleep”. I was more in a state of deep rest through the night, but sleeping in a muggy car in my own personal filth that built up on my skin the day before was hell. I had never felt so disgusting in my life.

The perk from all of this, was that the man at reception the night before had given my dad vouchers for each of us for a free breakfast in their restaurant. So, despite hardly sleeping we all had something to look forward to. We were all in horrendous moods, especially my sister and I. When we arrived in the parking lot my sister began arguing with me over getting ourselves cleaned up and somewhat presentable. I decided to take clean clothes and toiletries in with me so that I could freshen up in the hotel bathroom before breakfast. There’s nothing like a bath with some hand wipes to make you feel first class! haha.

Finally, w were all eating a hot fresh breakfast. It tasted so good as we cleared every single plate! We finally had it in us to call my mom. She was so upset we were not home, and insisted we need to get home immediately. I didn’t know what to do. I knew she wasn’t being reasonable in the heat of the moment, but I tried to be understanding. We all decided our best option was to move our flights up several hours the next day. After breakfast we moved ourselves to the lounge of the lodge, and called the airline.

A while later we found our to Tenaya Lodge, and got checked in. We were early, so we sat around and had an amazing lunch. When we finally got back to the room we took turns showering and then were able to proceed with our day which primarily included driving around YNP. We were dumbfounded by how much smoke had moved into the park, and how quickly the fires were spreading.

The next morning we rose early. Our bags were pretty much ready from the night before, so it was easy to head right out the door. We ended up back in Phoenix about eight hours earlier than initially planned. I could not wait to see my baby girls. When I walked in the door of my parent’s house my mom was there. As I hugged her I said thanked her for taking care of Zanzibar and began crying again. Then I made a B-line to my injured pup, and loved on her an Zoey for the rest of the day.

Two weeks Later Zanz, had her staples removed. She continues to obsess over fetch and food, loves sleeping on her back, and did I say she loves fetch?? lol… The one thing that has changed is Zanzibar’s affection for other dogs. She has become anti-social and untrusting of other animals. :( I know call her my “special girl” & constantly thank God for protecting her for me.